The Curse of Healing
by CourtneyEllen
Summary: "You are so selfish, Harry Potter,"


For QLFC, I was given the prompt: Queen of Pentacles — Upright: Practicality, Creature Comforts, Financial Security, **Reversed: Self-Centredness, Jealousy, Smothering**

Word Count: 1,423

* * *

Running away from his problems, according to Hermione, was one of Harry's many dramatic gestures that he had picked up over the years. Though in this situation, Harry felt that he was perfectly justified. Ginny would just not leave him alone!

To be fair, Harry had just gotten home from St. Mungo's a few days ago from an injury he had gotten during one of his missions, and she was just concerned about him, but he hated the hovering. It was one of the reasons he had begged the doctor to send him home after two days rather than spending the recommended week in the hospital. The nurses hovered too much and all around was pity. It had been a simple cursed object, no worse than the one that Katie Bell had been injured by in his sixth year; it was not as if a dragon had ripped off his arm. Yet, it felt that way with all the constant surveillance.

Mrs. Weasley had been the worst when he was in the hospital, in a state of constant blubbering or anger that he had picked up the object without testing it first. He had suffered through it on the first day, knowing she meant well and only wanted to see him get better - the same she would do for any of her children - but when she had offered to get him a bedpan and change it, Harry had snapped at her. Something along the lines of: "I am not an invalid!" or something just as angst-filled. Mrs. Weasley had left after that, and Ginny had swooped in to take her place.

Others that had come to visit him had been just as bad with their sad eyes and gentle touches. Hermione had reprimanded him on the importance of spell checks, her eyes pitying and her kiss to his forehead feeling like a butterfly had landed there. Ron had outright refused to touch him. The one time he had, his touch had felt like hot coals against Harry's cursed, sensitive skin, painful enough to make Harry flinch back. It had been enough of a warning for the redhead. Even Draco, Harry's partner who had been the one to get Harry to St. Mungo's had come and attempted to care for him. Draco was much like a mother hen in that sense, fluffing his pillows and tucking the sheet around his legs. It had taken one mention of how Harry was not Scorpius, Draco's beloved son, and some reference to Draco being a mother hen, for his partner to sneer and leave him be. That had left Harry with Ginny.

He loved his wife and their beautiful children, but the second he had stepped through his Floo he had been bombarded with questions of what they could get him and many more while his eldest, James, had hurried him to the couch, and while Albus had lifted Harry's feet onto a cushion laid on the coffee table. Some parents might find this endearing and cute, but Harry's boys had never been known as either of those words passed the age of two. It made his stomach roll to think that they had been scared enough for his well-being to act like this. Harry did not like special treatment, even when the effects of the curse still lingered under his skin and made him wish for nothing more than to let his sons take charge while he recuperated.

Stubbornness was another one of Harry's dramatic gestures, according to Hermione. He had refused to let his sons take charge, James was only thirteen and Albus even younger, they both did not deserve to care after their father at such a young age. They should be out playing and getting dirty, not inside helping Harry to the loo. Which was how we came to the present, with Harry having attempted to get upstairs to the loo and barely making it to the top before collapsing. The Healer had said that the curse was still in his system, much like a poison, but it was not fatal and was only meant to impair the cursed person for a couple days. Harry had thought he was well enough to move upstairs - having not slept in his own bed or used his own loo since he had arrived home - though as he laid at the top of the stairs, breathing ragged like he'd run a race, he figured he should have just used the guest bathroom.

"Mommy!" Lily's small voice filled the air, her feet pounding on the hardwood floor as she neared Harry. Her green eyes were flooded with unshed tears as she knelt before him and cupped his cheeks in her hands. He gritted his teeth against the touch, his daughter was not even ten yet. She would not understand why Harry would flinch from her touch, and he did not want to scare her more than he already had.

"I'm fine love," he tried to reason with the young girl, but footsteps were already pounding their way from the kitchen and up the stairs.

"Harry James!" Ginny's voice admonished before her face flooded his vision, her hands carefully pulling their daughter from him. Ginny would know where to touch him to avoid the pain, and Harry found in that moment that he hated her for it. Hated her for always understanding and taking care of him. She never said anything and had no complaints besides calling him stupid on a weekly basis. She should be furious with him for putting his life in danger.

"I am fine," he began, wincing as she pulled him upright by his shirt, keeping her bare skin away from his as she leaned him against the wall. She was hovering too close, her lanky body blocking Harry's expressions from Lily, who was stood at her back. Harry could feel his breathing speeding up as Ginny glared down at him.

"The Healer said," Ginny started, but Harry seethed angrily, a scoff tearing through his throat.

"I don't care about the stupid doctor! I am a grown man, and I should be able to go to the loo without being babied!" Harry exploded, somehow managing to push himself off the floor and back down the stairs, ignoring the zaps of pain that shot through his muscles. He ignored his boys, who were standing there, both looking way too eager to help. It only made Harry's temper flare more. The older man made it to the front door this time before he collapsed. He could hear Lily crying from the top of the stairs, the soft voice of James attempting to calm Albus, but clear as day he heard Ginny scoff before pounding down the stairs once more.

"You are so selfish, Harry Potter," she growled at him, too low for the children to hear. They were both well aware of the six eyes staring them down.

"I don't need help!" Harry argued back, a cry of pain escaping him as Ginny lifted him back to his feet, this time not being careful to keep her skin away from his. It was not done in malice, but as a way of reminding him that he was being stupid and that he was injured.

"You may not need it, but we are going to provide it because we love you and we want to see you get better!" Ginny continued on, half carrying Harry to the living room once more. James quickly ducked under his other arm to aid his mother in helping Harry to the couch. Harry groaned as they dropped him down none-to-gently before backing away. Albus took a seat on Harry's chest, effectively holding him in place while being careful not to touch him.

"Is this necessary?" he huffed at the younger boy. Albus gave him a cheeky smile in return. Ginny smirked at her boys, nodding her head at Albus' position.

"Keep him there, Al. At least until I finish dinner and I can babysit him," Ginny teased, walking away out of the living room and back to the kitchen. Lily and James took up posts around the couch as well, the red-headed girl held tightly in her eldest brother's lap. Harry sighed as he resigned himself to his fate, knowing there was no escape.

"I still have to use the loo!" he called out to Ginny, a small grin slipping on his face when she called back for him to hold it. At least, he had company now.


End file.
